Poland Quietly Confirms NATO Troops Are Deployed in Ukraine

This article originally appeared on Antiwar.com and was republished with permission.

Guest post by Dave DeCamp

Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski confirmed in comments on Friday that NATO troops are inside Ukraine but would not name the countries who have personnel on the ground.

“NATO soldiers are already present in Ukraine. And I would like to thank the ambassadors of those countries who have taken that risk,” Sikorski said at a conference commemorating Poland’s 25th year as a NATO member.

“These countries know who they are, but I can’t disclose them. Contrary to other politicians, I will not list those countries,” he added.

The fact that NATO troops are in Ukraine has been an open secret since the Discord leaks revealed last year that as of March 2023, there were 97 NATO special operations soldiers in the country, including troops from the US, the UK, Latvia, and France.

The issue has gotten renewed attention since French President Emmanuel Macron said the deployment of NATO troops to Ukraine shouldn’t be ruled out. His comments prompted several NATO countries to say they weren’t considering sending troops and sparked a backlash from Russia.

In response to Sikorski’s comments, Russian Foreign Minister spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said there was no point in NATO continuing to claim it doesn’t have troops inside Russia.

A leaked recording of a conversation between German military officers that was recently published by Russian media revealed that British soldiers inside Ukraine are helping Ukrainian forces fire Storm Shadow missiles, which have a range of about 150 miles.

The small NATO presence inside Ukraine risks a direct NATO-Russia war, which could quickly turn nuclear. But despite the risk of escalation, more and more NATO countries are openly discussing sending more troops.

Sikorski also said last week that the idea of NATO troops in Ukraine is “not unthinkable” and said he appreciated Macron’s comments because “it is about Putin being afraid, not us being afraid of Putin.”

Sikorski is known for suggesting the US was behind the sabotage of the Nord Stream natural gas pipelines that connect Russia and Germany. After explosions hit the pipelines in September 2022, Sikorski, then a member of the European Parliament, wrote on Twitter, “Thank you, USA.”

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